PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Confession time: Growing up I was never a fan of the big blue boy scout. When Brightburn was announced, a film that’s basically an evil Superman origin story, I was excited because it completely skewed the Superman mythos into something dark, gritty and gory. I remember sitting on my brother’s couch watching this film and being blown away by just how brutal and twisted they were able to go. It’s hard to believe its been 5 years since Brightburn was released.
Here’s a look back on Brighburn after 5 years.
Synopsis
What if a child from another world crash-landed on Earth, but instead of becoming a hero to mankind, he proved to be something far more sinister?
Brightburn was directed by David Yarovesky from a script by Brian Gunn and Mark Gunn. The film stars Elizabeth Banks, David Denman, Jackson A. Dunn, Meredith Hagner, Matt Jones, Gregory Allan Williams, Anne Humphrey, Emmie Hunter, Becky Wahlstrom, Steve Agee, Stephen Blackheart and Michael Rooker.
Brighburn wasn’t a film I expected. It’s almost beat for beat Superman’s origin story, but if it was inverted. Brandon is raised exactly like Clark Kent, but the pull of the voice in his spacecraft and his parents lying to him about his origins is too much to take and he goes full dark side: He beats people to death, burns out people’s eyes, drops a woman to her death and drops a mans truck to the road with him inside it and severing his jaw with the steering wheel. the film is absolutely dark and gore with a strong sense of dread running throughout. You know this isn’t going to end well but like a train crash, you can’t look away.
Some fun facts about Brightburn: The film was filmed in the same school as the first two seasons of stranger things. In many scenes Brandon wears the same colors associated with Superman. Brandon’s name uses alliteration, much like most comic book names. The film takes place in Kansas, just like Superman’s origin story. The films ending sets up a dark and twisted version of the Justice League. A sequel has long ben rumored but nothing has come to fruition yet.
Final Thoughts
Brightburn is a dark, gritty, gory supervillain origin story. I wish we got more films like this, If you haven’t checked it out yet I highly recommend you give it a watch. It’s available to rent and own on digital platforms and is streaming on Hulu at the time of this writing.
